Draft-regulator



S. E. BURKE.

DRAFT REGULATOR.

(No Model.)

No. 374,039. Patented Nov. 29, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT STEPHEN E. BURKE, OF EDON, OHIO.

DRA FT-REGULATO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374,039, dated November29, 1887.

Application filed August 14, 1887. Serial No. 247,743. I (No model.)

. citizen of the United States, residing at Edon,

in the county of Williams and State of Ohio,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tubular Boilers;and I do declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of referencemarked thereon,which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to draft-regulators for tubular boilers, and hasfor its object to control the draft through the tubes, so-that the samemay be shut off at will and thus prevent the cooling of the tubes'audsubsequent cutting down of the steam when the furnace-door is opened forthe purpose of poking the fire or introducing fresh fuel; and to theaccomplishment of the above ends the invention consists in theapplication to the tubes of a damper, which may be constructed andcombined as hereinafter described and Claimed and operated either byhand or automatically by connection with the furnacedoor, aswillhereinaiter more fully appear, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part hereof.

Figure 1 is a side view of a portion of a tubular boiler with parts insection, showing the application of my invention. Fig. 2 is an endsectional view on the line 00 w of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective viewshowing manner of connecting damper and door.

In the drawings, the letter A designates so much of a tubular boiler aswill illustrate the application of the invention, the tubes 13 beingrepresented as opening into the smoke-box G. In front of the tubesB,within the smoke-box, is swung a damper, D. This damper is swung sothat when moved back from the tubes it is moved bodily back and awayfrom the tubesheet, thus leaving practically the same distance or spacebetween the tube-sheet and damper, and in that respect differing from adamper whose point of suspension is fixed, so far as moving the wholedamper bodily from the tube-sheet is concerned. One advantage of movingthe whole'damper bodily and directly away from the tubes orlongitudinally I with t-helength thereof is that it is applied to orremoved from all the tubes practically at the same time, and apractically uniform space is left in front of the tubes, whereby abetter circulation is obtained and less space may be required for theoperation of the damper, and, further, the space and its uniformitybetween the damper and tubes can be more easily regulated and made. Thedamper is swung so as to hang perpendicularly, or practically so, whenmoved back by suitable means, say, for instance, by an arched orcrank-supporting cross-rod, E, whose ends or axles are suitablyjournaled along the sides of the boiler, to whose upper part isconnected the damper above its center .of gravity, so that it will hangvertically, the damper being connected thereto so as to swing thereon,say, by collars or sleeves F, which encircle the suspending-rod and areconnected to the damper. This suspendingrod is connected to a crank, G,say, on the outside of the boiler, and to whichis joined a rod, H, whichextends to the front of the boiler within easy reach of the engineer orfireman, and whichis moved by means of a lever, I, fulcrumed at somesuitable point and designed to engage with a rack-bar, J, which willhold it at any desired point of adjustment, so that the damper will'beheld closed or stand at the desired distance from the tubes.

A spring, K, may be employed to press the operating-lever against therack.

Instead of operating the damper by hand, it may be operatedautomatically by connecting the rodH to the furnace-door L, say, bymeans of a crank-lever, M, fulcrumcd ate, and connected at one end bythe link N to the door, while the other end is connected to the rodH. Insuch case the rack J may be omitted. The rod H may pass through a guidelug or car secured to the side of the boiler. Under suchconstruction,when the furnace-door is opened the damper is automaticallyand simultaneously drawn up against the tubes, so as to cut off alldraft through the same and thus prevent cold air being drawn into thetubes.

The distance between the damper and the tube-sheet or tubes is inproportion to the width of the opening in the door.

On the inner face of the damper,next to the tube-sheet, is formed aflange, P, which will keep the damper from striking the tubes and at thesame time form a closejoint between the tube-sheet and damper. Thedamper is also formed with perforations Q for the passage of smoke.These perforations,while permitting the escape of smoke, do notinterfere with the action of the damper. The damper can be applied toeither stationary or portable boilers, or to boilers of any form ordescription having tubes which it may be desirable to close whilefeeding fresh fuel or poking the fire.

The damper not only holds the heat when the boiler is out of use, butalso when in use, and, besides, cuts off the draft of cold air throughthe tubes when the door is open, and thus preventing the cooling of thetubes and cutting down of the steam. It may also be used to regulate thedraft through the tubes; and when not in use to shut off the draft itstands back from the tubes, so as not to obstruct the draft.

I have shown and described what I consider to be the best constructionand arrangement of parts to effect the results; but still I do not wishto be understood as limiting myself to such details, as it is obviousthat changes can be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit of myinvention.

The damper D may have any desired number of lugs or fingers It on itsface, so that when thrown back in the position shown by dotted lines inFig. l the lugs will bear against the door or end wall of the smoke-boxand prevent the damper from swinging or wabbling.

Having described my invention and set forth its merits, what I claimis- 1. In a tubular boiler, the combination,with

- the tubes thereof, of a damper suspended across said damper,substantially as described.

2. In a tubular boiler, the combination,with the tubes thereof, of adamper supported to move in front of the tubes and a flange between thedamper and tube'sheet to prevent contact between the damper and sheetand form a joint, substantially as described.

3. In a tubular boiler, the combination, with the tubes thereof, of adamper provided with perforations for the escape of smoke, and supportedto move in front of the tubes to regulate the draft through the tubes,substantially as described.

t. In a tubular boiler, the combination, with thctubes thereof and thefurnace-door, of a damper supported to move in front of the tubes andconnected with said door, whereby it will be automatically operated withthe opening and closing of said door, substantially as dc scribed.

5. In a tubular boiler, the combination, with the tubes thereof, of adamper swung, substantially as described, in front of the tubes to moveback and forth, and fingers or lugs on one face thereof to strikeagainst a bearing to steady the damper, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

STEPHEN E. BURKE.

YVit-nesses:

C. A. BOURSOX, R. L. STARR.

